Once upon a time, the dashing hero Galavant lost the love of his life, Madalena, to the evil King Richard. Now, our fallen hero is ready to take revenge and restore his "happily ever after". But it won't be without a few twists and turns along the way.

Ken Tucker

Galavant feels like a slapped-together production that will only confirm the suspicions of heathen TV-watchers who think most musicals consist of flimsy stories padded out with tunes that repeat the plot developments.

David Hinckley

Todd VanDerWerff

These jokes aren't funny ones. They're old, threadbare ones that Galavant does nothing to build upon. In fact, they might be Galavant in a nutshell: everything seems different, but this is the same old TV slop in a different suit of armor.

Rob Owen

Robert Bianco

Nothing about Galavant is quite as good as it needs to be — or nearly as good as the multiple spoofs it seems to be copying, in part because it never seems to be quite sure about what exactly it's spoofing.

Neil Genzlinger

Hank Stuever

The show offers an excess of mildly clever yet sincere goofiness. It’s as if someone set out to make a Spamalot for an audience that can’t quite grok Python, would find Into the Woods too morose and maybe missed half the pop-culture references in the Shrek movies.

Sonia Saraiya

Alan Sepinwall

Kate Kulzick

Galavant’s focus on lighthearted quips and banter over character growth or introspection keeps it from packing the punch of its more emotionally driven precursors, but its sincere embrace of musical-theater tropes and unabashed silliness are likely to win the show a loyal fan base nonetheless.

Josh Bell

TV audiences may not have known they needed a small-screen equivalent of Spamalot--and the network may not really know what to do with it--but Galavant turns out to be completely winning in all its cheesy glory.

David Wiegand

The music is effective without being especially memorable. You may not leave your living room humming any of it, but you’ll still be chuckling over some of the jokes in the lyrics, many centered on puns, childish humor and groan-inducing obviousness.

Jethro Nededog

No part of the equation that makes up Galavant is subtle. It piles on the songs, the choreography, the bawdy humor and the clever writing. That deep dive into the genre is what will help viewers shake off the doubts we had going into it. Galavant is a uniquely enjoyable ride.

Danielle Nussbaum

Liz Shannon Miller

Galavant is perhaps most watchable thanks to the fact that there isn't anything like it on TV right now, and likely never will be replicated. Beyond that, it's silly but fun--rare enough in this world.